You Dive and Learn and Dive Again - 6/2/2014

It is clear that the lure of Glen Douglas Road End, Loch Long as a dive site is unequivocal. The troop consisted of Me, Laura Ed, Sergeant Chris, Ally, Pat G & Grant. We were kind of like a platoon of crack Navy Seals, without any discernible skillset. As Ally and Pat were both ScotSAC divers from my club they buddied up, as did Chris and Ed, while Laura and I double teamed Grant and went in as a three.

Glen Douglas Road End (yes, the site is at the end of the road through Glen Douglas from Loch Lomond to Loch Long, though technically it's called Tulloch Road) is an interesting site in that it is home to cuttlefish, firework anemones and scorpion fish. In addition, it benefits from a number of fairly steep drop-offs so divers can get a lot of depth very quickly in a pretty safe environment. The only real downside to the site is access. There is no Finstrokes guide.

Accessing the site begins with kitting up, crossing the road, climbing over a crash barrier, slipping on the muddy slope, descending an almost sheer drop, then, depending on the state of the tide, staggering across a rocky riverbed and into the water. In short, to even the most experienced of divers it can be pretty stressful. Before inviting Grant, a 12 dive PADI AOW veteran, I should have considered this. Another site with easier access would have reduced the stress of entry on what would be a prima nocta dive and first experience away from the safety of an instructor*. Lesson 1 - respect inexperience.

Upon entry the G-man was having trouble with some of his kit and was struggling to descend, so Laura and I took a bit of time to help him into the water. Fortunately, I had sensibly stuck an extra kilo of shot in each of my BC pockets.  Regardless, we went in sometime after the rest of the Scooby Gang which was to prove handy later on. 

Now, I still like seeing starfish and crabs, however I've lost my initial wonder, but as we finally got Grant down and under the water I watched as he started to take an  interest in things I now take for granted:

• hermit crabs
• the stickiness of starfish
• velvet swimming crabs
• squat lobsters
• comb jellyfish
• a barnacle encrusted Buckfast bottle

I started looking for things that I wouldn't normally bother with. I picked up a squat lobster to give him a closer look, I shone my torch through the jellyfish, I looked for painted gobies. All of which were fascinating to the newbie eye. Lesson 2 - what seems dull and commonplace to me may be a marvel to someone else.

On exit, the other guys who had entered the water earlier had finished up were starting to wonder why we'd been gone so long, so our return navigation was aided by torches being shone one the surface. This was handy as topographically there isn't much to guide you at GDRE.

We never saw the cuttlefish or scorpion fish we were looking for, but the highlight was a magnificent Bloody Henry starfish. They're not particularly rare, you can see four in a dive or none in the next 20 dives, but regardless their magnificent purple hue still makes me smile.

Bloody Henry infused with orange light

Grant's first underwater photo

* I say, away from the experience of an instructor, in our midst we had qualified BSAC, ScotSAC and PADI Openwater instructors and a PADI Divemaster, but tonight they were just divers.